Scraping my bare feet against grainy sand mixed with dirt, I shuffled back and pushed myself against the wall. Sunlight arrowed through the bars of my window. I choked on my tears, coughing until I’d fallen onto all fours. “Caspian, I’m sorry,” I said aloud, although he couldn’t hear me.
“You!” I growled at the necromancer, begging him to hear me. “You took my mother. Cursed me. Lied to me.”
“You needed me.”
I sat upright, digging my fingers into my legs. “So you finally answer.” The corner of my lip twitched. “You said you were gaining power, to find your lost love.” I felt vulnerability in him, if only for a moment. “What does it have to do with me?” I looked up at the light. He was too quiet. “Unless, was she of my bloodline. Why did you target me? I didn’t come to you like the others looking for power. You came to me, forcing a curse on me, then using that curse to get close to me. Why?”
His silence was deafening. I picked up a jagged rock and placed it against my wrist. “If I am nothing to you, then you will not mind if I die. I have nothing to live for anyway.”
“Don’t do it. Put it down, and I will tell you everything.”
I scoffed. “Your threats were empty. You need me alive.”
“Your father came to me. Many have, looking for power, for immortality, or to bring their loved ones back from the dead. He wanted to live forever, but he knew the cost was out of my control. For a life extended, one must die. I didn’t know it would be the queen, and he was distraught, but she was never my cost. It was a favor.”
My eye twitched. I could hear the tortured screams of the fae next door. “Yes, my curse.”
“It was the only way I could get inside your head. I latched myself to your magic, and the loneliness turned you to me. It was in my agreement with your father.”
“I will die before I let you use me again.”
“Before you do something you might regret, you must know that your curse… It is only you who sees yourself as the beast. No one else does. It is an old magic, one used on the vain, but for you, it made you isolated, and I needed you that way. Understand.”
I raised my eyebrows. “If that’s all—”
“It’s not. I can bring Caspian back from the dead.”
“What lies you tell. You have done nothing but bring darkness to this world, and Caspian wouldn’t have wanted that. Your doing anything for me puts me in your debt.”
“See reason. I will grant you a large pocket of power, enough to raise Caspian, untethered to me.”
“What do you want in return?” I spat.
“You are part of the ritual to bring her back. My wife. She died during the plague a long time ago.”
“How can I bring her back?”
“There is a headstone, with her blood on it. I will tell you where to find it. You can use it, use my power, to perform a ritual.”
“No.” I scowled. “You would have brought her back yourself or used one of my ancestors to do it.”
“It had to be the firstborn woman in her direct bloodline, and you are the first female born since who is a direct descendant. However, you must sacrifice twelve people to do it.”
“That’s why you made me kill the servant girl. You were readying me, grooming me to kill more.”
“I will do anything for the woman I love.”
“What of you once it is done? With your great power, will you bring more torment?”
“I wish only to have her.”
I didn’t trust him, but I did my best to keep my thoughts quiet. “Untether yourself from me, grant me the power, and I will do it.”
“Why would I be so foolish?”
“Because if you do not, then I will kill myself.”
Silence hung between us. I tried to block out the screams, but they grew louder.
“I will grant you enough power to perform the ritual and bring your lover back to life. Once you have completed it, you will be free. Is it a deal?”
“Yes.”
I warmed with magic. It tingled through my fingers and up my arms. As it did, he left. For the first time in over a decade, I felt weightless. I hadn’t realized what heaviness I had carried around with him inside me.
The necromancer was right, however. He was foolish.
Using my new powers, I aimed a shock of bright light at the lock, and the door swung open. “Don’t,” I warned the men rushing toward me.
They hesitated but paused for only a second before pursuing. I snapped my fingers, willing slumber and darkness from the dungeons, and within it they fell. I opened my eyes and looked around at the locked doors.
One by one, they clicked open. The magic I held was immense and filled me. I was brimming, boiling over. The fae slumped out the doors, looking pale. Some didn’t leave their cells despite no longer being locked in. I knew I needed to help them, for Caspian.
Gathering one in my arms, I helped him to his feet. I’d get them out of the castle through the secret passageways, then I’d kill my father.
* * *
His face was sullen under the pale light. I tilted my head to meet his cold stare. “You would attempt to kill me, but you will die first.”
I curled my hands into fists, reigning shaky breaths to an appearance of calmness. “I am not afraid to die.” I curled my lips in behind my teeth and bit down. “I do not fear the unknown, like you. I am not weak.”
He snarled, his lip twitching at the corner. “You don’t scare me, Evangeline.” My name spat from his wicked tongue like venom. “Your mother loved you, no matter how you looked or acted, and I am grateful she died before she could see what you became.” He paused, and his breaths rattled as he glared. “I locked you away because you are darkness.” He elongated each word. They sent shivers down my spine. “You enjoyed misery, so I left you in its company. The necromancer was right to choose you to curse. He needed you, begged me for you because he sensed your wickedness.”
“No! He chose me because I am the first girl in the direct bloodline.” I took a step forward, balling my fists while tears crept down my cheeks. “As for my darkness, it was because you left me isolated. I was miserable, for you showed my sisters and brothers love and never me. Then you took the only person who showed me love.” I closed my eyes. Caspian’s blue eyes weaved through my memories, bringing a smile to my tear-stained lips. “I don’t fear death because I know that when I walk into the afterlife, I will be joined by Caspian. It’s easy to welcome the end, knowing I will see the one I love again.” I opened my eyes to see Father’s graying face. “You do not love. You only want power, using the people who adored you. No one will be waiting for you in the abyss. The necromancer will be enraged, but I will not be alive to face his wrath.” I was growing weaker by the minute. “I could have brought back Caspian, then I realized you’d still rule, and it would be a dishonor to Caspian’s memory. You have the ring, and unless you relinquish it willingly, you cannot die.”
His eyes flitted around the room, uncertainty in his expression. “Bring back the fae instead. I’ll let you go and live out your days with him. Don’t make me kill you by your failed assassination.”
“Mercy.” I scoffed. “I doubt it. You sense it, don’t you?”
The heaviness from my powers weighed on us both. “What did you do?” he asked.
“It took every ounce of power I had to do it.”
He slammed his fist on the desk. “Don’t mess with nations.”
“It’s almost done,” I said, feeling my life draining. It had taken too much from me to curse the Objects of Kai. Such ancient, strong relics…
My fingernails were caked with dried blood and mud from where I’d led the broken fae out of the castle and into a field. I grabbed the Sword of Impervius and held it in my trembling hands. It burned my skin, sizzling loudly.
“You see, Father. They’re cursed, just like I was.”
His eyes widened. Without a thought, he pulled off the ring, worried it’d burn him like the sword did me, but it wouldn’t; my plan worked.
I tilted my head upward to watch as life left his pale-gray eyes. He was older in his final moments, fragile without the gold crown on top of his head. His conker-brown waves turned silver, then white. My lips curled up when he took his final breath. He was the last one I needed to kill. No more blood would be on my hands, and now I had to die.
I closed my eyes when Zalia entered the room. “Don’t wear the ring,” I said through shallow breaths.
She dropped to my side, holding my hand. “I listened to everything through the door.” She croaked. “I’m so sorry.” Her tears fell, thick and fast. “I’m afraid. You were right. My magic is untamed. I can’t rule.”
“Be kind to the fae. Unite our kingdoms,” I whispered as I took my final breaths. I could see Caspian now, waiting for me. There was no more death, no pain, only peace.